1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing pills in a variety of forms. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a pill dispensing apparatus that can deliver one or more herbal and nutritional supplements, medicaments, or drugs in a pill form.
2. Present State of the Art
With the advances in technology in recent years, and more specifically in the fields of pharmaceutical medicaments, medical techniques, and herbal and nutritional supplements the life expectancy of individuals is steadily increasing. The causes of this increase results from various social, economic, and technological factors that combine to allow an individual to have a longer and more fulfilling life and life style. One significant factor for increasing the life expectancy of many individuals is the availability of pharmaceutical medicaments, herbal supplements, and nutritional supplements that combat disease and some effects of aging.
In order for an individual to obtain the beneficial effects of the pharmaceutical medicaments and the herbal and nutritional supplements it is necessary to provide a sufficient quantity of the medicament or supplement in a controlled manner. Various types of delivery devices have been developed to allow an individual, whether a patient, physician, nurse, pharmacist, or the like to count and deliver the required dosage of the medicament or supplement.
One common type of tablet dispenser is configured for home-use by the elderly or motor-impaired patients. The pill dispenser allows a user to push downwardly upon a housing that activates a mechanism to discharge a pill from the end thereof. The housing includes a supply space for holding a quantity of the medicament. Communicating with the supply space is an interior element that directs the pills within the supply space towards the end of the housing. The interior elements in cooperation with the housing prevent excessive delivery of medicaments or supplements. Unfortunately, if an individual requires multiple pills a significant amount of time is needed to activate the dispenser many times. Additionally, many home-use dispensers are formed with various interlocking component parts and deformable elements, such as the springs, that are capable of breaking through continued use. Furthermore, some home use type devices are complicated to manufacture due to the numerous intricate and interlocking component parts.
Various pill dispensers count and dispense the necessary medicament or supplements. With the increase in the number of prescription drugs and herbal and nutritional supplements available individuals, such as pharmacists have a limited amount of time to fill and check each individual prescriptions or request. Therefore, counters enable pharmacists and others to automatically count the number of pills going into a vial or other container.
Many pill counters use sensors that detect the number of pills passing a particular location and provide an accurate account of the pills as they pass into the vials or containers. The various systems use storage bins with the desired type of pill. Some systems merely use a keypad to control the identification of the pill contained within the bins and count the pills as they fall upon a tray. Other fully automated systems employ computer systems that control the distribution of the pills from the bins, past the counter, and into the vials or containers.
Unfortunately these automated and complicated systems having a number of disadvantages. For example, there is significant cost involved with installing a computer system with the required sensors and detectors used to identify the types of pill within each individual bin. There is, additionally, a substantial amount of time required to input the requisite data for each bin, as well as the time necessary to train personnel to use the automated system. Furthermore, residues of previous pills can contaminate automatic counters resulting in possible reaction problems. Additionally, some of the automated counters are incapable of taking an accurate pill count due to broken pills or variations in the frequency of pill delivery.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a dispenser that is capable of discharging various quantities of pills in an orderly and controllable manner. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a dispensing apparatus that is simple to manufacture and use without significant time and expense involved in training.